Throughout its history, UESI has striven to see student witnesses in every campus. As we go ahead, it is good to reflect on how far we have come through in the past six decades. A look at the present ministry and the staff is an eye-opener for us. The recent UESI Staff Conference at Dimapur, Nagaland gives us a rough idea of what is going on. I had the privilege to be a part of this great event.
For many of us the time when we were sending out staff from here for different northern states is a memory we cherish. Many of them after toiling hard have moved on to other tasks and ministries and continue His work. We had graduates also who went as tentmakers. Not only from Kerala, we have had staff and graduates from neighbouring states who contributed much to the Lord’s work in these states. This did not just happen in the past but still happening with many from here out there working alongside others from other states fulfilling their ‘Macedonian Call’.
As a result of the obedience to the call today we see a harvest beyond anybody’s expectations. At one time it won’t be wrong to say some of us despaired or at least wondered if there would be any fruits to the toil and labour people have put in. Now there are sons and daughters of the soil as the staff and coordinators in states like Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh to name a few. Then we have students coming to Christ from the northern states and owning the ministry. An EU from Jammu got affiliated to UESI recently. These we see as the impact of the ministry in Northern India. The good work continues and the result is heartening. Saji from Lucknow has to say that now they have plenty of graduates and students from the heartland of Hindi, Uttar Pradesh itself. Christopher from Himachal testifies that their EU gatherings are crowded with students who had never heard about Christ in their entire life. The Patna EGF shares that they hosted last month a mission conference where 60 students and 20graduates from four states committed themselves for mission; the first of its kind in our country. The once a mission graveyard state has become a mission sending land through UESI ministry.
It is befitting to celebrate such a great happening. Hence, students and graduates from South Central region came together on Republic Day at Thiruvalla to think more about the challenges and needs of UESI today. The presence of Christopher and family from HP and Reji Koshy Daniel from Pune made a difference as we could hear from the horses’ mouth so to say. Our student leaders came prepared with videos and presentations on UESI, highlighting the ministry all over the country. All joined hands to pray for the 15 million students from 15000 campuses of 300 universities in India. At the end the programm, our State Secretary, holding the national flag, challenged the students that though it is time to celebrate, not to rest on our laurels but continue with the movement. We were convinced about the relevance of the ministry in today’s time and milieu.